How to write a book query letter

4 elements of every query letter

The hook: the description of your story and the most critical query element; 150-300 words is sufficient for most narrative works. Bio note: something about yourself, usually 50-100 words. Thank you & closing: about a sentence.

Essentially, a query letter is a way to introduce yourself and your work to a literary agent or editor. It is a letter you send to convince agents or editors that you have a project that not only will interest them but also make them money. If they like your query, they will ask to see your work.

A query letter is, first and foremost, a “sales letter.” In other words, the sole purpose of a query letter is to “sell” or “promote” your finished book (or book idea) to literary agents. That’s important to understand because most authors don’t know anything about writing sales letters.

Although literary agents don’t agree on many things when it comes to query letters, the best query letter length is something that all book agents DO agree on. The best query letter length is 1-2 pages, single-spaced, Time New Roman font, 12-point. No exceptions.

There were 33 queries that were 400-500 words, which means that they were anywhere from 50-150 words past the “sweet spot.” Sometimes there can be a compelling reason for going this long, such as if you need to explain some extenuating situation in addition to the query. But not usually. 250-350 words is the way to go.

Send query letters in batches

It’s much smarter and more effective to send out the query in batches of seven to ten at a time. When you get a rejection, send a new one out. If a few months go by and you haven’t heard from an agent, consider it a rejection and send a new one out. Take your time.

Can you query multiple agents at the same agency? Unless otherwise specified in the submission guidelines, it’s fine to query different agents at the same agency, provided they represent your genre.

You should aim for a 50% response rate, but anywhere between 25-50% is okay, too. If you’re hearing crickets, there’s something wrong with the query or first pages or both.

The final paragraph of your query will be the closing, where you thank the agent for reading your letter. Do this simply and quickly, by saying something like thank you kindly for your time. In the closing, you should also mention what, if any, other material you’ve included along with the query.

I’ve actually read query letters that were upwards of 400 or 500 words long, which is essentially a full page of single-spaced 11- or 12-point text. With such a short letter, you really will have to polish off your copywriting skills. But if that’s a bit too extreme, you could do well to have one slightly longer.